California

You may not know who sits on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors or what the five-member panel does, but soon enough, the oversight body could have a few new members.

Legislation authored by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, would increase the size of the board of supervisors in counties with more than 2 million residents from five members to seven.

“Residents of California’s largest counties deserve a more representative and responsive government at the county level,” Mendoza said in a statement. “This can be achieved by expanding the number of elected supervisors.” Continue Reading →

Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison has demonstrated a rich man’s eclecticism in his political choices. Back in 1968, he supported Robert F. Kennedy for president but drifted away from politics after Kennedy wasassassinated in Los Angeles. Ellison liked Bill Clinton, whom he has called “incredibly smart and just plain interesting.’’ He disliked Al Gore, whom he thought favored a rival in the computer business.

All that helps to make his leaning toward Republican Marco Rubio in the 2016 presidential race a matter of some interest. The snarky side of that choice: Ellison is not going with Hillary, the Clinton in next year’s race. Politico reported recently that Ellison will host a fundraiser for Rubio Tuesday, June 9, at his Woodside estate. It will include a $2,700-per-person reception and a photo op with the Florida senator.

We couldn’t reach Ellison for comment, but o

one thing he has in common with Rubio is a very cool relationship with teachers’ unions. Ellison has complained about their influence in the Democratic party. And Rubio supports the idea of turning federal education dollars into vouchers that can be used to fund private schools, an idea denounced by unions.
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With their constituents facing severe water restrictions amid a withering drought, the mayors of San Jose and Oakland this week tried to lighten the mood with some clever suggestions. At the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s annual CEO Summit, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo suggested beer as an alternative to drinking water. Not to be outdone, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf offered that spouses could shower together. Do we think the drought might lead to a Silicon Valley baby boom?

So powerful are teachers unions in California that school board members and administrators seldom speak out against them — for fear of retaliation at the ballot box, or trouble at the bargaining table or friction in their work days.

So when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge last year declared that the state’s system for evaluating, laying off and granting tenure to teachers was not only broken but unconstitutional, many educators may have nodded their heads but muted their cheers. The state Department of Education and teacher unions are appealing the ruling.

“California-based businesses are on the cutting edge of technology – constantly pushing the envelope,” Draper said in a news release. “Most good ideas come through Californians innovating and collaborating with each other. We should be able to do the same with government, but unfortunately, our government is still stuck in the 1980’s. They can’t complete a project, like building a bridge or updating a computer system, without it being late, over budget, or even obsolete by the time of completion. That’s why we are launching the ‘Fix California Challenge.’”

When the State Water Resources Control Board issued its revised conservation targets April 18, it appeared the city of East Palo Alto had achieved a dubious distinction. The data showed the working-class city was the only jurisdiction in the Bay Area to increase its water consumption over the past year.

According to the records on the water board’s website, at a time when Gov. Jerry Brown was urging conservation to combat the drought, East Palo Alto’s water use spiked — by 11 percent in the period between June 2013-Feb. 2014 and June 2014-Feb. 2015. Continue Reading →

At the end of last week’s unusually long and volatile sentencing hearing, Judge Ron Del Pozzo ordered convicted former Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. to perform 45 days of community service and report back to court at 9 a.m. Sept. 25 to prove he complied.

Now, it appears the judge has washed his hands of the case, which has proven to be something of an embarrassment.

When Ro Khanna fell only 3.6 percentage points short of evicting U.S. Rep. Mike Honda last November, savvy insiders predicted that the 38-year-old lawyer and former Obama administration official might well try again. Then Honda fell asleep during a Homeland Security debate in Congress, and since then, Khanna’s cause has acquired renewed steam.
At a Khanna fundraiser last Monday night, one of the people who attended was U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, the former head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Bennet has not officially endorsed Khanna, but his presence speaks volumes. (An interesting footnote: While Khanna was born in Philadelphia, Bennet was born in New Delhi, in the country of Khanna’s ancestors). Continue Reading →